East of West
by njking24
Summary: You can only run so far before you're past catches up you. Iruka dies during the scroll of sealing incident, and Naruto runs away. Heading west he crosses an ocean and arrives at an entire new world. Striving to help his new mentor achieve his dreams Naruto becomes more than he could have ever dreamed off back in Konoha.


**-Read ME! For the love of god READ ME!-**

**This story is AU. This story is OC heavy. This story will have characters acting OOC. Please don't complain about that, I made it very clear in the first part of the story from the get go. **

**-READ ME!-**

**Authors Note: So if you're still reading let me explain some things. You know those "Naruto goes to another continent and becomes an emperor story, I really like the idea of those. I think their great and if handled well they could be some really interesting cool, writing. The problem is the people who write them…well they can't write well, so I read a few chapters of it, then quit because they either write terrible, or they write passable well but the characterization is filled with tropes and well crap. Or the story pulls some Deus ex Machina bullshit that I just can't handle at a conceptual level. And I thought, maybe I could write one? **

**I got the title of this from the Image Comics "East of West" I thought it was really suiting. Americans (I am One) Think of places like asia as the "far east." To the rest of the world though their the "west." In This way, west of the elemental nations is my cultural view of the "east." Hence "East of West." **

**The idea really stuck after reading G.O.T by George R.R. Martin. For the first few chapters of this story other Konoha nin won't make an appearance. They will however reappear. I just, I don't think it's best to make them appear right away. I want the first chapters(3-4) to be self-focused things. They will reappear though, so don't worry. **

**There will be huge time skips between chapters in the story, months to a year. I'll do my best to show it in a conceptually pleasing way. So I hope you like it.**

-Naruto-

The village stank of the rancid smell of humans. It smelt of shit, of piss, of death and rotting meat. It was a rancid smell, a powerful overbearing order that singed his nose and made him want to gag. For a moment, just an instance he felt his stomach revolt, it twisted, and knotted itself and his lunch almost came hurling back up, so fowl was the stench. He wanted to curse, to think, to believe, that people lived in poverty like this. He took shallow breaths, both to settle his stomach and limit the overbearing, unbelievably _perverse _smell.

He turned sky blue eyes to his mentor. The brown haired man looked at him, an eyebrow arched in amusement. He seemed to be taking joy in Naruto's inability to keep his lunch.

"The smell."

"That's the smell of corruption boy. That's what happens the money, and food that is taken from the people as 'taxes'," he mocked the word, and yet, Naruto could sense the hatred and vehement anger behind his tone, "is handed out to the lord and ladies instead of being used to fix the roads, repair the sewers, keep the water running, pay the police force."

His mentor laughed, his voice seeming loud, yet sounding small as he did so.

"Chengdu is one of the oldest cities within the divided west. It's nearly a thousand years old. Legend says the first men were born not too far from Chengdu. When the great black egg containing heaven and earth split, and Pangu-feeling suffocated- escaped releasing into the world all that is in it today. Though…I don't think anyone still believes in the myths."

Naruto smiled.

He loved it here, the legends, the myth, and the history. Seemingly everything here was ancient, everything had a story, and everything led back to another myth or legend, or story. It was strange, this ancient yet new land. Strange to think a great ocean separated this world, this land, _this continent_ from the one he was born on, and the one he fled from. Then his smile disappeared as the smell assaulted his nose once more.

"Chengdu is run by a local warlord called Jin Yunpeng. He's a small time lord, his power barely reaches past the city limits. He's our first target."

Naruto nodded in understanding, but still, he pulled his dark brown cloak tighter around him, doing his best to conceal his face. Yellow hair was a rarity in these parts, blue eyes even rarer, especially this deep inland. The mainlanders barely had any contact with outsiders, and traders, and very rarely did the children of intimate nights reach this far inland. It wasn't impossible, but it was noteworthy enough for casual passerby's to remember his face.

"Legend says when Pagun broke the egg of the world and freed himself he looked upon the desolation of the void and howled, such was his anguish at the nothingness he saw. For an untold time he wailed in the nothingness until his tears fell on the egg of the world, and the rivers and seas formed. The leftovers of the egg formed the land. Seeing what he'd done, and created Pagun sought to bring about something in the nothingness. He made a great sacrifice, He pulled his eyes from his head making the sun and the moon. From his skin the tapestry of the night was formed. From his bones was the stars birthed. From his blood life came into being. From his mind, man was formed."

"I…I don't understand."

His brown clad mentor laughed again.

"Pagun saw nothingness and realized how horrible it was, how retched it was. Here there is nothingness, in these slums. In these streets children starve, men rob and kills, women and girls sell their bodies. And the wealthy, the warlord and his "lords" are uncaring, or oblivious to it all. Here there is nothing, and from nothing came something."

"I still don't understand." He'd learned early on, unlike in Konoha, admitting he didn't understand was far better than wallowing in his own ignorance.

"The city is in desolation. The people, the common folk I mean, they go along with it only because things aren't too terrible yet. It may be bad, but in the scope of what they face before things are relatively good. Yet, as soon as things start to get worse they people, the mob will rise in anger as they are wont to do. When the mob rise, the heads of the nobles fall. Some of the Nobel men understand, and fear this. Yet they can do nothing. That's where we come in. Me and you…young and old."

"…"

Loashang was a man well past middle aged. His hair was turning grey, his skin starting to wrinkle, and tan from the sun of the summers day. He was unusually old in the divided west, well past sixty, and showed his age, his knowledge, and descent from royalty. His eyes were a deep dark brown, and on his face he held,

"The land is ripe for revolution boy. Once I almost captured it, united it, and once more I'll try again. I want you at my side when I do so."

"Me?"

"Yes you." Naruto's response was an incredulous look. Loashang laughed again.

"I…"

"You have aspirations for greatness, you're young, and you're my student. Now stop this foolishness. We have an empire to create."

A hawk's cry drew Naruto and Loashang's perspective skyward. It circled high overhead, its massive wings tipping on clouds before circling and swinging about in an arch. It cried once more and Naruto noted Laoshang's smile. Then a third time and Loashang chuckled in excitement.

"Close friends are hard to find Naruto. A good friend is a friend for life, keep that in mind."

He kicked his horse and it neighed in annoyance. "Follow me." It swung its tail left, then it body right, before neighing once more and taking off. Naruto Laughed and followed.

-Zaoshi-

Zaoshi bowed deep, to show her respect to her father as she poured the rich mint tea. The luxurious smell emitted from where she was. She placed a bowl filled with honey next to the tea, and once more bowed.

Zao, her father was once a strong man. She'd seen the old paintings, from when he was young, nearly thirty years before a general beneath the dragon of the north. Back then he'd been a young man of only twenty years, his face had been strong, his eyes bright. Now though…those deep grey pits were tired, his hair was grey. Large bags and wrinkles marred a once smooth face.

"Thank you daughter, your service is much appreciated."

"It is my pleasure father." She hated this, the strict speech, the cold tone, the unfeeling nature with which he seemed to approach everything. It was hard to imagine he was the same man he had been when he was far younger, and she but a child.

Back then he'd been kind, amiable…but it seemed that age had stricken him of his soft touch.

She would have sighed, but in front of her father that would have been shameful. Instead she bowed once more at him and went back to kitchen to retrieve the platter of food the servants had prepared.

She walked on hard, pale wooden floors, her feet carried themselves to the kitchen. There she saw servants, peasants really, hastily running about trying their best to prepare a meal for her father's unannounced guests.

"My lady!"

She turned to the voice that called her out. It was an old women, her face wrinkled with age and her hair turning a deep grey. Like much of the staff here she was old. Zaoshi had to hold her tongue, she seemed surrounded by age, and slow coming progressive death.

"Yes?"

"Were out of rice my lady, we can't…"

"Out of rice?" She frowned at that. Her father had ordered a hundred and fifty kilos of rice be delivered just the week before.

"What happened to shipment that was supposed to arrive two days ago?"

"It never arrived."

Were it permissible of a lady of her stature she would have cursed. Instead she let out a long sigh. The old worker lady seemed scandalized by her behavior, but for now Zoashi decided it best to ignore her. She had an idea of what had happened to the rice, and it angered her to the core.

In the old days no one would dare steal from her father….in the old days though…her father had been a man not to be trifled with. No warlord was. But after the fall of the Dragon of the North…her father was lucky to keep what he had.

She reached into her long flowing dress. Pulled a money purse from beneath a small pocket covered by a piece of yellow cloth and counted out a thirty golden coins.

"Go to the market with one of the boys. Buy twenty kilos of rice. Have them deliver it here today, and cook it. Haggle hard and you can keep the difference."

The old woman looked at the coins with a gleam in here eye. She would have pocketed some of it anyway, Zoashi knew that, but giving her permission to do so would make sure she got a fair deal of rice out of it.

With a furl Zoashi left the kitchen and started the slow walk back to her father…how to break the news to him? She wondered idly as she walked back from the kitchen. As she approached, she stopped at the calm voices that spoke. It would seem misfortune had befallen them, and her father's guests had arrived.

"Zao, my old friend." That was not a voice she had ever heard before. Dare she sneak a look?

Indeed she did.

She peered around the corner, and gasped at what she saw. He may have aged over the years…hair growing grey and old, wrinkles lightly appearing on and around his face, but still his jaw was strong, and his face devilishly handsome.

The Dragon of the north.

"-ood to see you again old friend."

"The same to you Laoshang. The years have been kind to you friend, it seems as if you haven't aged a day in the twenty rain seasons since we shared the danger of battle together."

"I wish I could say the same of you Zao, it seems as if for every year I haven't aged you've aged too…and aged them well. I'm quite jealous; I had dreams of stroking a long white beard when I was young. Now I'm old and dream of dreaming those dreams. I may look young, but do know I _feel _old."

Her father laughed. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't heard her father laugh in years. It seemed as if the man had receded into himself, pulling back, and back, putting up walls of ice and stone between the man she'd known as her father and the man he was now.

It was a thing she'd almost forgotten he could do.

"Daughter." She'd been caught. Had they known she was there the entire time?

"My friend's apprentice can be found waiting for his master in the kitchens. Show him around our humble abode. He might be a little _strange_ but remember that your actions reflect upon our family."

"As you wish father." Her face flushed red as she walked to the kitchens. That had been tactless. The act of spying was unbefitting a lady, more so one of her status. Worse perhaps was getting caught in the act. She wondered idly what was so strange about the boy, that her father would consider mentioning it.

As she approached the kitchen the mummers of the kitchen staff could be heard. The yammering women could be heard even from here. They seemed uncannily excited about something, and their excitement intrigued her. As she approached the kitchen her anticipation built, until finally her stomach was queasy with a slight hint of unease.

Was he perhaps grotesque? A monster of unspeakable hideousness? A beast parading as human, with sharpened claws for hands and a twisted gnarled mouth. A _thing _covered in scars and skin like leather.

Well, she'd know soon.

Finally she reached the door that lead to the kitchen, she paused for a moment, composed herself and slid the door open. He was not a monster…far from it. As far from as perhaps it was physically possible to be.

His hair was golden sunshine. His eyes were captured skies. His face was, handsome, for a moment he took her breath away. On his cheeks were three pairs of shallow scars that made him look wild when combined with his spiky hair. He looked nothing like any man, or boy she'd seen before.

"Hello." His accent was queer. Spoken in the manner of the port cities. So then that explained the hair, and the eyes, and those strange scars. Perhaps a bastard child of one visiting traders a street whore? Or perhaps a lost traders son?

"Hello."

-Ling Haiu-

He'd killed his first man when he was six years old.

Sitting atop his horse, looking at the small village nested below Ling found himself remembering that day. His sister had given him a bow some months before for his naming day, it was a beautiful thing carved from dark rich wood and inlaid with charms meant for good luck and success. He could feel it even now, years later, and the soft fur lined leather grip, hear the twang of the ox tendon string on the wind of his memories.

He adjusted his grip tightening as he fixed his seating and reached for his bow. He lifted it-the heavy thing weighing almost forty pounds- above his head, and his golden hued eyes followed the trail of the horizon. He thought of his sister again, her beautiful long hair, her tender smile and calloused, yet soft hands. He thought of the bow, raising it as a six year old boy and putting it through a man's throat from ten yards away as his heaving form lay on his sister.

Sheng Haiu-Un had not deserved to have her innocence take in front of her hiding child of a brother. She'd not deserved to have her throat slit by some bastard lord's underling when he'd killed the man assaulting her. She'd been his sister, his whole world and only family.

He had killed his second man some moments after his sister's death.

He drew the bow, his golden eyes fierce now. He let his _chi_ flow, and kicked his horse into movement as his hands raised high into the sky. His tanned face was warped into a scowl as he raced down the rocky path. Ling Haiu was a good archer. He'd learned the skill young and his sister had seen his gift. She'd helped him nurse it, and now, with that gift he'd take this land as hers.

His stallion raced forward, its great brown and black form galloping across the grass strewn pass. His bow was raised, and he felt the _chi_ run through his body. He smiled suddenly, and in a moment, when his horse had leapt forward, he let his arrow fly. Behind him a thousand of his worries did the same. A hail of arrows turned the sky black for a few seconds, and then, suddenly, he could hear the screams.

He smiled again.

The horses raced down into the village, he drew his bow again, and roared to signal another volley. The sky blackened again and the screams continued. He let his chi flow, felt its energy rush through him, and then his horse, and picked up speed. His stallion, rushed forward given a gift of sudden energy and the village was within striking distance. He lay his bow aside and drew his blade.

It slid free and as the village approached he beheaded a foolish boy who thought it wise to face him. Ling Haiu leapt from his horse in one graceful move and landed a few seconds later. The beast rode free, but he paid it no mind. He had many, many more. One lost beast was nothing to him. Around him screams rose up, and he dashed forward. _Chi _rushed through him, and his blade making it glow hot white in response. He dashed slicing huts with his weapon and alighting them aflame.

His men arrived a few seconds after he did, rushing to capture women, and young boys for work. Some raiding food stored, and valuables while others still went about killing any man old enough to fight. He paid all of it no mind, instead walking towards the center of the village.

There stood a great home, made of elegant wood and painted a shade of blue so bright it was an insult to the humble village it was placed. He walked towards it, a magistrate's home. On its great doors was the emblem he'd sought, a great eagle painted in bright whites and vivid yellows against the blue of the building. He smiled and his blade flicked across the doors frame. It split in two and he continued inside.

The magistrate sat with his legs folded on an ornate carpet, also marked with the rich hues of his ruling family. The man was old, well past seventy rains with a long ornate beard trimmed to donate his status as a man of bureaucracy. It was white like sheep wool, and cut into a sharp falling triangle of an edge.

"So, the dog finally comes." The magistrate's voice was hard, a toneless emotionless sound that conveyed nothing off his own intentions. His eyes, deep light brown pools remained lifeless in his skull. The old man betrayed nothing other than a sense of complete contempt for those before him.

"Dog?" Ling Haiu was amused at the insult. "Dog?" His crooked smiled widened. His foot lashed out and smashed into the elder man's belly. "Foolish old man. I'm a wolf."

"Dog." The magistrate wheezed out. He spit globules of blood on the floor. "A pathetic dog, biting at the heels of its better, eating shit of the floor." He spit more blood, and took even weaker breaths. "Sickly little pests that need to be exterminated."

Ling Haiu _grinned _down. It was a vicious grin. A wolfs grin.

-Jin Yuan Peng-

He moaned in ecstasy as her tongue rolled over his cock head. Grunted in pleasure, grabbed the back of her head, and thrust himself deeper into her mouth. She tried to say something, he didn't bother listening, and instead bucked his hips thrusting even deeper. He held her head there for a few moments as his ecstasy mounted, then suddenly it was over and he released her. She sat on the floor, drool dripping from her mouth retching. He laughed.

"You're good." He muttered as he lay on the bed.

"I'g glad it pleases my lord." She said, even as she wiped more drool from her mouth. Her makeup had stained from his…ministrations, and the sight of her brought him to rise one more.

"Come, lay beside me so I can experience what I paid so handsomely for."

"As my lord wishes." She stepped closer, and as her lithe form lay on his bed, the room went dark.

"My lord?" The whore asked. He ignored her, and listened to the darkness. A frown on his face.

Jin Yuan Peng fell silent. Slowly he rolled from his bed, the fine silk falling to the tile floor, he reached beneath his bed and pulled his máo out. The long blade tipped staff swung in the air around him in one fluid arc. He snarled.

"Silence."

"You know…I've been watching you for a while." Jin raised an eyebrow at the accent, thick, yet familiar. He blinked, someone from the eastern coasts. Who had he made enemies with on the eastern coasts? Well, he'd find out in time, and kill them for thinking the serpent of the Yuanpeng would fall so easily.

"You're very good with that máo. But…" The voice was young…

The darkness increased, and he stood silent. He suddenly felt alone, before the face of an impossible oblique darkness. Alone in the night as afraid as a child. He snarled, and flared his chi. Illusions. A sorcerer? A young sorcerer? He almost laughed.

He ducked under a blow that would have taken of his head, collapsed to the floor and swung his máo out in one fluid movement. He hit nothing. Instead he felt the cold feel of steel on his neck.

"Well?"

"Are you expecting me to beg for my life?" He almost laughed.

"No." And the cold steel was pressing into his neck. He blinked, in parts in surprised, and in parts shocked. He glimpsed down to see his own blood spilling down his chest, and blinked. Then he died.

**-Author's Note-**

**So…some four years after putting the first words of this down on paper in my freshman lit class in my crappy spiral bound notebook this thing is finally at a state I think is good enough to release….wooh. Naruto actually over. Damn. Well. Tell me what you think, if there's enough interest in this I'll update it, if not, at least I put it out?! Ha. **


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